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'J. P. RICE. Railway Rail Joint. No. 231351. Patented Aug,31,l880;.

/ llfil j a L, w J J J an X M w I r a J 'J @T r A 77355 T: //\/l/E/\/ 727 R} ER DGERWI UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE;

JOEL F. RICE, or LOUISIANA, MISSOURI.

RAI LWAY-RAI L- JOINT.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 231,851, dated August 31, 1880.

' Application filed May 28, 1880. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOEL F. RIGE, of Louis iana, in the county of Pike and State of Missouri, have invented certain Improvements in Railway-Rail Joints and Fastenings, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide against the settling of the rails at the joint, one below the other, and at the same time so attach them that they may freely expand and contract under the influence of heat and cold without unduly opening any one joint.

In the drawings which serve to illustrate my invention, Figurel is a longitudinal vertieal mid section, adapted to illustrate the construction of the joint. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is an end View of the rail, adapted to show its preferred form to the best advantage; and Fig. 4 is a plan of rails at thejoint.

Let A B represent the ends of the rails adjacent to thejoint. These rails I make of the form best shown in Fig. 3, a being the base, and b the web, of the rail. This latter has its sides arranged perpendicular, or nearly so, to

. the base, and a flat, or nearly fiat, crown, and

it is about the same thickness from the base or foot to the top, except that its junction with the base is formed by means of quarter-round fillets 0. Such a rail possesses, as I believe, more strength than the ordinary T-rail or U- rail, with no more metal.

This form of rail is well adapted to my improved joint, which I will now describe.

The rails A B are bored at their ends, as indicated at (Z (Z in Fig. 1, to receive a tenon-pin, O, which fits snugly therein. As the holes exactly coincide and the pin fits them snugly,

it will be seen that one rail cannot, when the joint is made, be depressed below or raised above the other.

To enable the track layers or repairers to readily remove a rail when it is worn or damaged, I make the hole in one rail as deep or deeper than the entire length of the pin, and employ a set-screw, c, to hold the pin in place. The deep hole may bemade in either rail, or in both rails, and a set-screw may be employed in both rails, if desired.

When it is desired to remove a rail the setscrew is taken out, a pinch-bar inserted in the opening, and the pin gradually pried or forced back.-

D is a metal plate, to which the free ends of the rails are secured by screws f f. These screws engage elongated notches or recesses g g in the edge of the base of the rail, whereby the latter is held firmly down to the plate but permitted to expand freely longitudinally.

As ordinarily laid rails are apt to stick to getherwhen they expand, and thus throw all, or nearly all, of the shrinkage into one joint, whereby a gap is produced which is hurtful to the rails and produces jolting. My construction prevents this in a great degree by allowing perfect freedom from expansion at each joint, the centers of the rails being spiked fast to the ties so as to be fixed.

I may employ screws with nicked heads, as shown, or with heads to receive a wrench.

A tie must be provided at each joint on which the plate D rests, and to which it is attached by screws, spikes, or other means.

I am awarethat dowelpins have been employed as fastenings at rail-joints, but I am not aware that a loose pin, capable of being slipped entirely into the hole or cavity in the rail, has ever been employed.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- 1. The rail-joint herein describechwhich c011- sists of a loosely-arranged dowel-pin'in a bore or socket in the end of the rail deep enough to receive the entire pin, the said pin being adapted to be adjusted and fixed in position in its bore or socket and to engage a corresponding bore in the adjacent rail when the rails are laid, substantially as set forth..

2. The combination of the rails provided with bores or sockets and the dowel-pin arranged therein and'provided with a set-screw to hold it in place, one or both of the bores or sockets being deep enough to receive the entire pin, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination to form a rail joint and fastening which will prevent one rail from sagging below the other at the joint and still permit and secure equal expansion and contraction at the joints, consisting of the rails provided with bores or sockets to receive the pin, the said pin fixed only in one socket, the bedplate secured to the ties under the ends of the rails, and the fasteningsercws arranged In witness whereof I have hereunto signed to engage the elongated recesses in the rails my name in the presence of two subscribing IO near the joint, substantially as set forth. witnesses.

4. The combination of the rails provided 5 with sockets in their ends to receive a dowelpin, and elongated recesses g g in their bases, Witnesses: with the dowel-pin, the plate D, and the screws DAVID A. FEW, f f, all arranged substantially as shown. J As. M. LEWIS.

JOEL FRANK RICE. 

